He was not smiling. He was not happy. He was not alone. He was crawling, suspended, under the train carriage with a remarkably agile woman.

He did think this was the most interesting assignment he had had for as long as he could remember. First the dogs lie, then the young warrior appeared. His businessman's suit was now in tatters, his clean hands greasy, the millstone around his neck... the woman. He thought about her as he looked past his feet at the woman crawling, with him, hand over greasy hand, towards the locomotive of the train. She was keeping up with him. He was surprised. He liked her. He smiled his smile.

Natasha looked up at him and smiled back.

"Bumblers, all of them." said Rook as he lead the small group over a fence and into the grounds of the exclusive Chautauqua Institution. "They have no idea who they are looking for and why. Trust me, if Obi-Wan got out of the train, he will elude those local-yokels."

Tayanna turned to him and nodded, "That loco is following us... yes, and someone is with him...?"

"How do the dogs know there is someone with him, Tay?" Nasrin asked.

Tayanna did not know how to answer her, mostly because Tayanna knew who that someone was.

"What the... why are we slowing down?" asked Atticus. The four rushed to the window and saw the train conductors gesturing and pointing.

"We're out of here. Pack up!" replied Rook and the group made their way down the hall, now crowded with sleepy, confused passengers, rudely awoken from their pre-dawn dreams.

Tay found the nearest door and pushed the button. "Locked!" She dug a small tool from her bag and shorted the circuit. The door slid open and they jumped down and away from the train car, dogs exiting last.

From the opposite side, they watched a growing crowd gather around the coupling that joined their cabin car to the train. Suddenly, the dogs began growling, their hackles raised and fangs bared.

"The loco is nearby." said Tay after a pause. "They smell his strange smell."

"Loco?" asked Rook.

"Obi Wan." replied Atticus. "He's been tracking us. We don't know why..."

Rook cut him off. "We'll sort that out later. Now, we head due south. Up for four or five miles?" His eyes twinkled. The group set off, due south.

Chip Hunt had been with Amtrak for 17 years, with the LSL for just 5 years. As conductor jobs go, it was among the best in the northeast. Steady schedule, nice scenery, relaxed passengers. He had jobbed around the east coast with Amtrak before he got to the front of the waiting list for the Lake Shore Limited and now he was living the dream. Those crazy Boston-New York-Philly commuters gave him a headache.

He watched a couple walk between cars toward the rear of the train as he moved forward. They were not typical passengers, they were middle aged but she was heavily made up and he was strange looking for a businessman. Scruffy.

As he moved between cars a greasy lump in the coupling caught his eye. He knelt carefully in the rocking vestibule and looked closely. He saw a blinking light under the grease. Chip's blood ran cold. Chip took his radio off his belt and hit the Emergency Call Button. The US Marshall answered immediately. With-in 15 seconds the train was decelerating.

State police and the Buffalo office of the FBI greeted the train as it pulled to a stop on a spur headed toward the sleepy town of Mayville, NY.

Obi Wan crouched in the hall next to the coupling connecting the cars, mumbling and chuckling.

"Did you carefully place the charge?" a heavily accented voice behind him asked sharply.

"Yesyesyesyes..." he responded, turning slightly to gaze up at her face. "Don't worry, no one will be hurt. This will simply stop them from reaching Chautauqua and handing off the data."

Natasha nodded. "Nasrin cannot be endangered. You understand?"

"None will be in danger. Not Nasrin, not the lying dogs, not the witch..." he repeated wearily. How tiresome to work with this one, constantly second-guessing, plotting, full of subterfuge and conniving. "The train will simply stop, so the secrets remain safe."

Atheneum Hotel

Main Parlor, Atheneum Hotel

One thing was certain. The C4 charge snuggled nicely into the coupling between the private suites car and the coach seats car in front to it. He smiled as he twisted the connection between the blasting cap and the preloaded cell phone. He dusted off his palms and stood, he stepped over the coupling toward the rear of the train. He was not going to miss this for the world.

Knight walked out of the bus station in Jamestown, NY. Lucille Ball grow up here, and it looked like when she left she took everything exciting about the town with her. He slid into the seat of his rental car and adjusted his mirrors. He had to chase the Lake Shore Limited to the north. He would meet it somewhere near Lake Chautauqua if he hurried.

Moot convinced Ferris that waiting around for the action to come to them in Chicago was bunk. It was plain that the students and the thumb drive were on the Lake Shore Limited, and the perfect place for them to land the Sikorsky on the train was in a narrow, hilly stretch of track in western New York state.

Madonna finished her press conference and held her hand out for her essence of hydrangea and pomegranate cooler. She held her hand steadily in the air for 2.3 seconds as her brows lowered. She was about to point out to her assistant her failings when Courtney Love staggered into the Main Parlor of the Atheneum Hotel.

"Madonna, what are you doing here? Chautauqua tent revivals have nothing to do with Chautauqua, NY. Nothing." Love sputtered and threw an empty bottle of Champagne over her shoulder. "You are thinking of Chautauqua, Ohio." She staggered toward the dais, the press cameras flashing wildly. "What an idiot." Love gasped and fell to the floor, dead asleep.

Madonna had just finished this vital segment of publicizing her cause to promote the restoration of circus tent revivals, and was now upstaged.

Valentine pushed the gas pedal deeper into the floor and the car's speedometer blew past 90 mph. Nothing but rural wasteland as far as she could see, and the roads were practically empty as she chased the Lakeshore Limited, hoping against hope that Atticus was safely on board. She would never have agreed to allow his participation in this mission if she'd known the whole thing would fall so utterly apart. Damn those stupid, selfish women who put the whole organization - not to mention a critical mission - at risk... and for what? Vanity? Power lust? And damn Knight. Fear mixed with anxiety pushed her foot deeper toward the floorboards.

"Atticus, please, please be on that train" she murmured to herself.

She promised herself she'd tell him everything after this was over. She'd confess how young she was, how unprepared to raise a child, how much it had hurt to walk away, to pretend he didn't mean everything to her as she watched him grow from a maddening distance. She had to watch over him, to protect him from a now uncertain future.